To my knowledge, there aren't any North American spiders that would cause a "seconds count" type threat to your life. I suspect the way this normally works tod

To my knowledge, there aren't any North American spiders that would cause a "seconds count" type threat to your life. I suspect the way this normally works today is: Black Widow: Have a painful bite on the house! User: "Ouch!" *slap* [one hour later] User: "Oh my god, I am in unimaginable pain." * User is driven to the hospital. Or Brown Recluse: Have a painful bite on the house! User: "Ouch!" *slap* [several hours later] User: This is starting to swell rather disturbingly, and smarts quite a bit. * User drives to their doctor With snakes it's probably another mater. If a snake I could not identify bit me, I would be calling 911 first, and taking pictures afterwards before the ambulance arrived. If it's not a snake that I recognize as safe, then I wouldn't be taking the risk that it wasn't a venomous pet that escaped (since I can recognize the venomous snakes native to my region).